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The Campaign
Wednesdays at 7pm EST, we stream this game on twitch. Backlogged episodes are available on youtube. Right Now (One-Shot) The party consists of: * Vesta Bury, a lapine baker, our leader (played by Chelsea) * Reggie Bogfart, a tortuga celestial acolyte (played by Ken) * Hennie Locksworth, a vulpe investigator (played by Gabe) They travel with a larger group, consisting of the following NPCs: * Elbjorn Vedic the Younger, a domesticus warrior, Vesta's lifelong friend * Trunk Trugor, a green torg stalwart, with the party since they infiltrated a scrip labour camp * Elmira Swiftquiver, a squirrelfolk skirmisher, and long-term partners with Trunk * Steelfist, a draconian brawler, liberated from the mine * Absolution, a skytouched free knight, saved from dark spidery doom * Jim Rollins, a mousefolk captain, joined the party in response to local politics * Corvo Corvinius, a dwarfborn rooker who wears a bird mask, joined the party alongside Rollins * Béatriz Armadillo, a human caravaner, hired the party for a guard job * Aedelwold Baptiste, a human tailor, part of Béa's caravan * "Tiffany" Filligree, an elfborn armourer, part of Béa's caravan * Bill Johnstone, a lupus hunter and archer * Redd Crackoar, a vulpe ranger, established lifedrinker-hunter * Warren Crenshaw the Blue (aka Blue), an elfborn blue wizard, established lifedrinker-hunter * Milton, a ratfolk fighter. First tried to join the party in Garrison, but wasn't hired out of fear they'd endanger a naive new adventurer. After pursuing them and helping them kill Vulcan, he was hired on. The party awaits in a small village near Last Hearth, for a rendezvous with the partymembers left behind. Their turncoat companion isn't far out of sight. Where to next? Start point - Arc 1: Curse of the Lifedrinkers Vesta, Salis, and Leland were created during our session 0. Leland is a caprine knifesmith and metallurgist, raised by his knifesmithing parents, and learning their magic over the years. Salis and Vesta are adopted siblings - Salis is a pythona elementalist and fighter, trying to work as an assassin of sorts. Vesta is a lapine baker, following her friends and looking to make money on the road instead of in the same village, year in, year out. We begin at session 1. Shortly before the spring thaw, the three PCs - and attending NPC Elbjorn, a long-time friend and domesticus warrior - found a number of wounded strangers out in the crags. Bringing them back to the village doctor, things grow stranger and stranger. Finding a chest out on the crags that was chewed open, a shredded bloodstained note, the marks of a skull placed in the box in a pool of now-crusted blood, and seeing the impossibly-injured husk of a man reconstitute into human form over a few days, their dander is up. He calls himself Kree Sellis, and he was helped along the way by hunters - the now unconscious bodies, slowly dying off day by day. Kree reveals he has a certain power, one otherwise unheard of - he can absorb the strength of willing donors, and while he's regenerating now, he's just regenerating, not stealing from them. Leaving town once the thaw starts, the party departs - Vesta, Salis, Leland, Elbjorn, and Kree - amid a haze of unease and weighty stigma from their fellow villagers. Roughly a week passes on the road, during session 2. Kree wanted to go to New Farmarket - a very distant place - and swinging by Hammerhold (where the party suspects he was slated to be imprisoned or destroyed, based on the shredded note's remnants) is right along the road. Upon arrival in Hammerhold, he ditched the party, paying them handsomely. Salis discoved he was using a fake name. Suspicious, the party decides to spend session 3 investigating Kree, his friend, and their suspicious behaviour. Apparently, the hospital where Kree was getting "treatment" saw him use the bathroom then leave once the party departed. Following clues, they find him having dinner in a ritzy tavern in the noble district, where they speak briefly before he and his merc friend - Borru - meet with their third companion, Lazlo. Now all healed, the Lifedrinkers consist of Kree (a freckled redheaded human with a moustache in green robes), Lazlo (a portly, pale, black-haired human with a long moustache and fine red robes), and Borru (a dark-skinned dwarfborn with dreads, outfitted in brigandine and arms). Overnight, their dreams are twisted by magic. In the early morning, before the world awakens, they move to catch the rookery as it opens, and encounter a group of researchers tracking these creatures - they're responsible for containing a nest of 23, with 213 Lifedrinkers being tracked altogether by a number of teams. Working together, the group tracks the lifedrinkers to a barn a ways from Hammerhold, and manages to decapitate Kree and Borru, putting their heads in boxes to be contained. During session 4, they party travels south with their newfound companions. While tracking Lazlo, the escaped lifedrinker, they drive off a great beast in the night. Freshly equipped and armoured, the party discovered the wreckage of a hamlet slaughtered by the beasts, and driven by duty (and empty pockets), they tracked the beasts to their lair - where, during session 5, they managed to defeat the Bearwolves, save several victims, and catch a ferry to Delta, where their quarry has been camping out for a time. Session 6 marks the end of this campaign arc. After arriving in Delta, the Lifedrinkers brute-force the party's wards and guards, and discover they are in the city. During the several nights the party manages to stay unseen, the city guard raids several taverns. As their time runs out and they attempt to escape one last time, all but Salis are rounded up. As Elbjorn, Redd, Leland, and Vesta stand trial as non-citizens, Selma and Blue lie in wait in the cells - as citizens of Westmarch, they are sentenced to death. Salis brings Blue the ritual materials to melt into fog, and frees Selma from captivity, before attempting to track down the party. Caught and hurled into the room, the five partymembers who haven't fled for their lives are given their sentence. For the murder of Borru, a high-standing citizen of Cragholdland; the murder of Kree, a citizen of Midrun; and the attempted murder of Lazlo, one of the nobles holding this trial; all five are sentenced to exile from the three offended kingdoms, under penalty of death upon return. They are brought to a prison galley, and deported to Newtown. Arc 2: Descent The next arc begins with Session 7. Landed at Newtown, a beaten-down and frustrated party wanders to the tavern to wallow before planning their next move. As an inconsolable Leland drowns his sorrows in a drug-fueled rage in the tavern's brawling pit, Vesta makes a connection that might bring them closer to where they need to be. With a month and a half until the supposed lifedrinker meeting in New Farmarket, an unusual job will have them where they need to be when the time comes. A Skytouched named Solemnity has employed the party, alongside two errant adventurers: Trunk, a cheery green-torgish tower of steel, and Elmira, a foul-mouthed squirrelfolk skirmisher. After escaping Celestia, her and two of her partners planned to marry in the Freedlands. While Solemnity had the connections for a visa, her partners could only follow after a month's vetting. Taking a job with the Red Coat Mining Company, an unusual and unexpected letter explains in code that her partners are being held as slaves. With the agreement that she'd send a far larger rescue contingent in one month's time if she doesn't hear back, the party enlisted with the Red Coat Mining Company as subcontracted adventurers. After three mind-numbing days following fog and sparse isles, the party arrives at Site 4, an island on the edge of the crack, on the Soth side opposite Celestia. Descending deeper and deeper, with reclaimed dwarven rail and rickety elevators and subterranean lake ferries. At the deepest reaches of the mine, where the light is scarce and the fog is thickest, the party by chance rooms at the boarding house with one of Solemnity's two partners, Charity. She explains that the company uses bank interest, company scrip, and commissary pricing to mathematically assure the workers are always in debt - and workers must pay their debts to leave the island. During Session 8, the party begins their work proper - first by sweeping an accident site for survivors, followed by fixing a mysterious cookie smell wafting up from the darkest depths of the mine. The party first travels uneventfully to a place called The Graveyard, where train cars from far above fall into a crude field of shredded metal monoliths. No survivors are found, and the party attempts to fix the cookie smell, but find themselves unable to descent a harsh slope. Without a rope - and unwilling to fork over the cash for obscene commissary prices - the party heads to the opening of the mine, gathering vines to spin rope. During their search, they explore a disused and restricted path, that leads to an empty marble manor and a dock... with a pair of bloody manacles stashed in a bush nearby. Scrying the blood, Leland sees the formerly manacled being eaten by Alistair, tyrant of Celestia. With rope in hand, they descend to find a house, of all things - perched on a ledge, overlooking the boiling superheated fluid at the base of the crack. It's owned by a powerful dark creature, appearing as a venerable skytouched woman, calling herself "grandma". In her house, two skytouched - Absolution, the last member of the previously hired adventuring party, and Grace, their other mission target. Grandma, after testing them, explains that she's opposed to Alistair, and seeks to take his children (the Skytouched) and free them from his grasp. The party heads home, with something nagging in the back of their minds. Partially to show Charity her partner lives and partially to spy for themselves, the party scries - breaking the illusion, and revealing Grandma's true form - a four-legged spiderlike insect, cocooning victims and throwing them to her much larger counterpart - "grandpa". Armed and armoured, the party closes in during session 9. After hurling Grandma and Grandpa into the superheated base of the crack, they saved a number of captives - but not without grievous injury, with both Salis and Leland needing heavy medical aid before returning to the surface. As the newly-rescued Grace recovers, she explains her predicament - she had three wedding rings tucked away, which were thrown into the chasm by Tammy - the HR director for the mine. Before checking in after their mission, the party searches the Graveyard for the rings. A cargo car slams into the earth as they search, luckily unmanned and just shy of hitting anyone on the ground. Returning to check in for their mission, the party is escorted by armed guard to Tammy's office. She presents a scene - Grace in chains, their belongings to the side, and a host of guards on all sides. The party has a choice - assume Grace's debt, or allow them to sell her to Alistair. In the blink of an eye, Leland hurls a knife into her throat, and a bloody melee begins. Trunk, Elmira, Absolution, and Grace have escaped - but the rest of the party has been subdued and captured. While the party languishes on their second prison barge within a one-month period, their allies are not far behind - during session 10, our players assume the character sheets of their companions - with Ken as Trunk, Gabe as Elmira, and Chelsea as Absolution. As the violence balloons forth from the top of the mine, an unlikely ally comes to their aid - or rather, finds himself with parallel goals. A draconian by the name of Steelfist, some sort of hero to the miners... according to himself and the guard. Rippling riots through the mine keep the guards occupied, allowing the party's companions to get to the surface, evade patrols, and overwhelm the guards on the docks. With Trunk's naval experience and Steelfist's alleged "life on the sea", they steal a cargo ship full of coal and ore and set sail after the departing prison barge. Closing in at night, they approach in a skiff before sneaking aboard and into the belly of the ship. Speaking quietly to the prisoners, they agree to wait quietly until the cells are unlocked, then blitz the crew in a surprise mutiny. Session 11 sees our heroes make landfall in New Farmarket, just across the sea from Whiteabbey... to grim news. It seems a letter was sent by Blue, explaining the unthinkable - funding to the Epidemiologists was cut, and the vault was auctioned off - a horde of 50 lifedrinkers are bearing down hard. As an imperial port official inspects them and hears of their predicament, they are offered optional protective custody and refugee acceptance into the town (on the basis of their kidnapping - after all, this official might well be a lifedrinker). In the night, a partymember on watch wakes the party - a lone figure has entered the cell block, and the lights are out. A stranger possessing the official's body delivers a message, but a quick-acting Salis snaps the official from his reverie. Several assassins appear - they've been given special dispensation by their employer to toy with the party. Most escape, but one obstinate wounded assassin is caught for ineffective questioning. Paying a group of new adventurers to bolster their ranks, the party rides out to build fortifications in the desert. Once nightfall comes, their method proves successful - one new adventurer is gruesomely injured, but survives, and half the team of assassins is driven off. One-Shot: A Memory With An Echo Session 12 takes place many years ago, with our cast assuming deeply-nerfed stats as their 9-year-old PCs. We open with Salis awakening at his working-age older sister Sai's house, where she informs him she has to leave until late on a local adventuring job with her working-age friend Elveld, Elbjorn's older brother. Leland and Elbjorn, already outside, fight with sticks outside Vesta's house. Dismissed and unsupervised, Vesta escapes easily to join in. As Elveld meets up with Sai to leave town, Salis joins the group outside. Here, along the road, Vesta learns - far too late - that her parents and eldest brother are leaving with the wagon for a few days, and her siblings are in charge. Free and easy, the four run off to adventure for the morning. Returning for lunch around noon, Leland's parents find him, furious - they've been trying to find him all day. His adolescent cousin Dellbert has come into town to take care of him overnight while they buy steel. After Leland's parents leave, Dellbert comes at Leland hard and fast with a threat - stay out of his face and be back by dusk or don't be back at all. Fleeing into the woods, the party decide to get away from Dellbert and the village by playing by in old ranger station Elbjorn found. The afternoon passes blissfully. As twilight comes and the children ready themselves to hurry home, they see the distant ranger stations lighting their beacons. Unsure and out late, the party decide to return to town to get aid, but not before lighting the beacon before it's too late. After the labour of hauling the firewood and lighting the beacon, the party discovers that a host of ice elementals have gathered outside, and seem to be trying to take the tower. Unprepared for a grown-up fight, the party quickly searches for a place to hide - finding a trapdoor to the cellar below. Barring the door, they sneak inside, and Salis deftly slides a box over to cover part of the trapdoor. Searching, the ice elementals don't find them. As they patrol, the party decides not to push their luck waiting in the cellar, and return to the top of the tower. Here, they see the ice elementals starting to leave... to join a full warring host in the village. Luckily, Leland's isolated house remains untouched by the elementals, and the party decide to leave for the safety of the house. As they arrive, Dellbert is furious. He orders the party to keep watch so he can sleep, under heavy threat. The night is calm for a while, before something approaches in the wee hours of the morning. As they awaken and prepare, Dellbert orders them to wait by the back door to escape or bar it, depending on what happens. The front door is battered down by a small squad of elementals. As they overtake Dellbert, he screams at Leland to come save him, even though it's far too late. With some coercion, the party grabs Leland and escapes. Elbjorn takes a sword from the shop in the back in the rush. Salis tries to grab a weapon, but nothing's close enough - he grabs the next best thing, a chain. As they run for the forest, more elementals appear. The party struggles to defend themselves as a fortunate Sai and Elveld find them. Sai drives them back as Elveld saves the children, but Sai falls. The children are brought to a camp for the saved villagers. Vesta's siblings are here, but her parents are not. Leland's parents find him there, worried sick. Elveld tells Elbjorn to stay safe with the group and stay vigilant, riding back into the fray, never to return. Arc 3: Night of the Lifedrinkers Returning to the present, Session 13 finds our party returning to New Farmarket. In the agreement to "toy with them", the assassins guaranteed them safety during daytime - which their attack shortly after nightfall last night seems to indicate. The newly-hired adventurers cancel the contract to care for their wounded friend. With the vault lost and the epidemiologists scattered, Redd must return to Hammerhold, and Leland decides to join him. A figure in dark baggy clothes makes an introduction - she is The Owl, an investigator on a probably-illegal mission to investigate the Lifedrinkers - she and her now-deceased mentor found them as a byproduct of investigating illegal activity surrounding the Red Coat Mining Company's parent company and subsidiaries. As they catch up in a tavern, a waiter reveals himself to be one of the assassins, The Rook. One of the assassins they killed was The Jester. While this was agreed to be a loss and the assassins planned to cancel the contract, The Queen thought otherwise... absconding with their pay. The Rook assures the party that he and his faithful compatriots mean them no harm, but the Queen will be loud when subtlety fails, and they were paid very well. Losing the prison barge after it was sunk by the assassins sometime prior behind their back, Steelfist "acquires" an out-of-place-looking longship, and the party sails for Newtown. This would not come to pass. Tailed off the coast of Westmarch by two skiffs of bounty hunters, the party lures them into a bay, and uses their tactical advantage and better ground to drive off the larger group in some marshland. However, an unlikely sight pins them to land - an advancing mercenary warship, led by The Queen. The party flees inland to a nearby abandoned farmhouse, and spot a conspicuous group of well-armed and rich-looking cavalry searching the nearby hill - the fiftysomething escaped lifedrinkers. Session 14 starts with a proposal from Absolution: there's an old friend who can help them lay low in the Ring Mountains, and they might make good money, too. This plan comes just in time - the mercenaries have reached their temporary hideout. They escape into a ravine by the skin of their teeth, and lose them in the woods. A little ways away, the party spots a farmhouse where they might find some supplies. Before they can arrive, however, they see the Lifedrinkers come up the path, and abandon their horses, storming the house to find the party. In the brief opening, the party steals the Lifedrinkers' fine horses, and escape again - now on swift chargers. The party camps a little ways away from a hamlet, and three non-beastfolk partymembers - Absolution, Trunk, and Salis in disguise - decide to go to the hamlet, to see if they can sell their horses, or buy supplies. It seems, however, they found the wrong town for any sort of trades like that. With a shrug, the trio return. Just moments before they return to camp, Vesta spots hunters approaching the camp along the trail. Locking eyes, the hunters approach with their hands up, meaning no harm. While they couldn't sell horses or buy supplies, the hunters mark down a few isolated trails on their maps, as well as safe and unsafe places for them to find supplies. With this help, the party dodges patrols all the way to the border. As the trees and hills give way to rocky desert, the party is once again ready to ride ahead unfettered. One-shot: Three Strangers The party rides into the desert during Session 15, loosely rejoining the roads once well past the border. Paranoid, they dodge settlements and camp away from the road. At an intersection, they find the burned-out husk of a building with an empty prison wagon nearby. They camp nearby, ensuring they have solid distance before settling in. As night comes, a stray traveller asks for their aid. He suspects they're wanted - he's wanted too (for the alleged theft of one million gold, which he doesn't have), and figures sleeping alone at night in the desert is a sure death. The party hesitantly accepts him - he sleeps a deep sleep of recovery, and the party note signs of torture. At dawn, he thanks them, and parts ways. The next night comes. A lawman on horseback sees tracks, and follows them into camp. He briefly asks if the party saw the thief (from last night), explaining that the thief stole property that was valued at a million gold. Not recognising the party in the slightest, he asks if he can stay with them tonight, as even for the armed and wary, sleeping alone at night is unsafe. Accepting him, he sleeps half-awake, ebbing between true and false rest. He departs come morning, with instructions on how to report back. Another night comes. Camping far from the road to avoid another encounter, Salis sees a horse with a slumped-over rider, wandering the desert well past sundown. He hesitates, only approaching (with the Owl's help) once he sees the rider fall off the horse, unmoving. Bringing the rider to camp, they find a half-delirious man in fine clothes, suffering from some degree of heat exhaustion. The Owl convinces Salis not to tie the person to a nearby rock, and just treat them as normal. Once the Owl is asleep, Salis takes a gold from the rich man's pocket as a tip. On Steelfist's watch, he ties the man to the rock, takes all his money, and steals the man's jacket. Once morning comes, the scarcely-well-enough traveller seems to thank them (begrudgingly), and explains that a thief that he and a bounty hunter were bringing back managed to escape - the man's name is Pennyworth, and he's a moneylender. The thief stole his ledger, with accounts potentially worth one million gold. One-Shot: Take What You Need Grabbing a job in the city of Chimera's Gate during Session 16, the party is hired as investigators. Criminals who've now likely crossed the border need to be extradited back to the Empire to stand trial. Among them are Robbie - a sharpshooting mousefolk with a large civilian death toll, and their primary objective - Georgie and Sketch, two other (optional) targets - and John, who for confidential reasons should be given respect as a hero and left alone. The problem, of course, is in international tensions. The nation in question (the Triple Confederacy) refuses to extradite criminals who have not been charged with an offence locally. The party has been hired to stay clean, and be a convenient witness if the opportunity presents itself. Catching a cold trail before happening upon a hot one, the party finds their quarry in the borderlands, where neither government holds hard sway. The Owl sees John holding a bomb in his hand and looking at Robbie's tent at night, pondering. In a later village, Robbie goes to buy supplies. Elmira sneaks up and overhears them - Robbie "broke the rules" really bad, it seems. Deciding to corner John, they pounce when their charges split up to cross through a busy town. While John's alone, The Owl and Vesta pull him aside to talk. Explaining that they were given his name with good reason, they inform John that they're here for Robbie, and only Robbie. Rather than getting angry or running, John sighs slowly, and acquiesces. John makes a deal - he has to have a tense conversation, and the road is choked through a series of cable cars over rough terrain. If the party splits in half, and takes the car ahead of them and the car behind, he'll work with them. During the cable car ride, turns in the cable path keep neither party from seeing the scene unfold completely. John has Robbie grabbed by Georgie and Sketch, and begins berating Robbie for pointlessly killing innocents and witnesses. Dodging the topic, John decides to get direct, and has Georgie and Robbie dangle him off the edge of the cable car. Emphasizing how any of Georgie and Robbie's fingers could be in the wrong place at the wrong time, like his victims. Robbie is unheard - John later claims he wasn't getting it - and John allegedly whispers to Sketch and Georgie to keep hold of Robbie to simply scare him. John shouts "Drop him", Robbie the sharpshooter kills Georgie and Sketch as they pretend to let go, and Robbie falls to his death. John is seen disposing of Robbie and Sketch. The party helps John escape before the heat comes down. He explains himself, clearly quite upset at the sequence of events. Begrudgingly, they part ways. The party travels a few days further before they reach their destination - an isolated rookery where they hope to lay low. Arc 4: Mountain Rangers Finally at their destination by Session 17, the party is hired by the mysterious Corvo as mountain rangers, patrolling the wilds around the local village. Quickly armed with their first mission, the party fans out, following a missing person - Annette Hammer. First travelling en masse, using the opportunity to both get the lay of the land and cover ground together, the trail is getting cold, so they split up to cover ground. Although most of the party returns by the early night - all without Annette, but with some clues - it seems Salis hasn't returned. Once morning comes, the party goes to his last known location. At the abandoned mine Salis was tasked with searching, the party finds a gruesome sight. Built from the corpses of the missing Salis and Annette, a sculpture has been erected, here in the depths of the mine - entitled "the parrot". Session 18 takes place a week and a half later. With few clues and dead trails, the party is kept out of the investigation, out of suspicion. Elbjorn's started drinking more. Vesta's been snapping at people. And this odd-tempered stranger named Reginald certainly isn't helping with the creeping paranoia. After four people go missing in one night, the party realizes they might have been the last to see them alive, on their ranging trails - an older teacher walking home a teenager and two children. Reports indicate this was planned, the teacher was granting students with disabilities additional school time to compensate. Mulling over dead trails and clues without context, the rangers finish their sweep - and find wagon trails. Heading to the mine, one set of track peels off, down the southern ranging trail. Eventually, the wagon is found, drenched with blood, at a ruined ranch. Inside, another sculpture - the teacher, in deathly regalia, with a bone scale. Balanced, one side has the heads of the three children, coal and silver as the counterweight. The guards, following you to pass along a message, find the gruesome sight. Rattled, Captain Rollins cracks - now more reliant on The Wolf and her fellow investigators than ever. During Session 19, the town begins to crumble. The sculpture has reopened an old social wound from a controversial council decision a decade ago, and the killer remains at large. Searching for clues, the party finds that Junker and the teacher, Maurizio, were working together on some sort of underground trade - bringing clothes and school supplies to some families in town, but why? Seeking answers, the party goes to find the mother of two of the victims - instead finding her at the base of the stairs in the cellar, having had a deadly fall. With questions where there should be answers and new suspects where they should be ruled out, Corvo and Captain Rollins approach the party with a plan. Rollins, a military man, is resigning - once this is over, he won't be able to look at this town the same way, and wishes to work with the party as independent investigators. Corvo should be retiring soon too, planning to give the rookery to his coworker. With these pawns in place, Rollins encourages the party to hide in the council chambers, to observe the exchange. While the meeting is boring as ever, Captain Rollins' announcement causes a fracas. With the last sculpture pointing to local politics, the councillors are all now suspected of having some link to the crime. With accusations, grudges come to surface, and a staggering loss of decorum, the meeting devolves from a meeting, to an argument, to a brawl, to a borderline riot. Session 20 finds our heroes at a village, a little ways away. Here, they meet up with some experts - a doctor, prosecutor, and defense attorney. While some partymembers wait to meet up in town, others explore down a ranger trail they hadn't seen before. Vesta helps catch up the three strangers on the goings-on in town. Passing a watchtower, the others are informed that this trail goes the whole way back to Anchor Hill. Soon thereafter, they find another sculpture - abstract and half-broken, an early attempt. As the party reunites, they decide to go home through the ranger trail. Long and lonesome, they eventually rejoin the ranger trails, reaching the village in just a few days. The group decides to send the doctor and local wizards to analyze the scene. Meanwhile, they begin suspect interviews, with some information on their side. Their first interview is with Joryn, the priests' son. During the time of Annette and Salis' murders, he was supposed to be on pilgrimage, not coming home for a week or more still - but with confirmed sightings from the other village's watchtowers, the party calculates that he could have come to town on the ranging trail, left, then returned conspicuously. He was seen shortly before the party last saw Maurizio and the children. The bodies were protected from scavengers via priestly ritual magic, were affixed together with ties and rivets, and were killed with a practiced blade - while Joryn has no claim to any construction skill, he does have passing ritual magic experience, and tried to train with the guard - failing not due to incompetence, but due to lack of discipline. During the interview, Joryn is oddly calm and friendly. The second interview should be with Junker, who isn't in his home near the mine. To save time, they allow the guards to keep searching, and interview Joryn's father, Priest Gains. Though he has priestly ritual experience, no other things tie him to the crime, the Priest's emphatic and strong anger towards the accusation is suspicious in itself. Junker isn't at his yard either. Reginald forgot to pack enough rations, and is out of food - he makes the excuse to go to the exchange and buy rations, and takes the opportunity to check out Maurizio's house. Between now and when the party was last here, the house has been put in better order and mostly packed, with the rotting remnants of a forgotten meal on the table inside. The party interviews the Moderator of the council - while not tied to the crimes, he helps clarify political goings-on, and corroborates both testimony and party suspicions. It takes time to go through all the points, during which time a suspicious Reginald continues to investigate. He goes to the mine, and walks to the garage door of Junker's shop, looking for any clues overlooked by the guard. Clearly, the guard weren't doing their due diligence - pulling open the garage door, the crowd of onlookers scream, seeing a new sculpture in the workshop. Titled "the lessened load", the sculpture is of a wagon running over a figure. Out of time for the day, the party go home to compare notes, awakening early next morning to results from the doctor and wizards. The bodies, while kept ritually from scavengers, weren't protected from total rot - and thus, can still be placed in the timeline. The doctor suspects that Annette was in partial construction during the time of Salis' death. The children and teacher were killed within only a few minutes of each other, and died on the road, not in the wagon or the ranch. Junker was in his workshop for three days, but the sculpture was tweaked only a day before. We begin Session 21 with one last interview - Priest Veronica, Joryn's mother. She is cooperative but dodges questions, giving the party little to work with. Trunk and Elmira are stationed to keep watch on Joryn and his father. The prosecutor and defense cosign an arrest warrant for Joryn, after some deliberation. As the party leaves to arrest Joryn, a detonation collapses the mine. The guards rush off in droves, to care for the injured. From the church's bell tower, two snipers start firing on the party. The party advances from building to building, taking down one of the snipers in the process. Some climb the bell tower to cover all exist, while the rest of the party kicks down the door. Joryn is at the altar, finishing a prayer. Vesta insists there's no need for violence - Joryn sees no such future. A fight breaks out in the church proper, while Hennie and Elmira bandage and hogtie Joryn's unconscious father. Taking a few weighty swings, dodging and weaving, Joryn escapes into the other rooms. Hennie and Elmira, with Trunk, gather their captive and try to get out of the chapel. As Joryn moves to ambush the party, they find a trail of markings by the altar - the ash of a once-lit fuse leading down into a secret tunnel, a second unlit fuse leading to a hoard of explosives. They kick the fuse into the hole, and cover it up. With black smoke coming from the undercroft, the party breaks - some securing the door, a group escorting Joryn's father, the rest investigating. Joryn leaps from the mezannine above, laying about the party. Hennie holds an axe to his father - Joryn laughs, throwing a dagger into his father's chest. As the party converge and subdue Joryn, he fires a useless flame towards where his final trap would have been. The explosives inaccessible, Joryn is captured. As the church crumbles, the explosives go off, with noone there to be hurt. By now, the party has begun moving to the guard tower, and the village largely vacant. Days pass, as Joryn is handed over to the legal system, and out of the party's hands. Caravans leave the village in droves. Our party, their deeds complete, decide to head north - maybe this caravan can provide some immediate pay, while they return to their old hunt. Start point - One-shot: On The Road, Again Our heroes have left hiding, again free to pursue some old foes. We pinch things off at Session 22 - our plot will continue, but everything prior to this point will be re-explained for new viewers. While some partymembers have a seething hatred for the Lifedrinkers, others are skeptical of their very existence. Nonetheless, they unite behind their budding leader, Vesta, who calls for a long journey to Hammerhold. The career adventurers among them expect work along the way, of course. Catching up to a group from the village they left, they make some coin guarding them all the way to a budding border town. The party agrees to trade in Salis' old covered wagon and some gold to buy a wagon for Reggie - a garish black-and-yellow two-horse sedan, with a massive tortuga-sized bed. The rhythm of the road begins to kick in, as the party repels petty monsters and makes progress through the mountains. By the time they hit the border town, the last of the migrant villagers have dispersed. Far from the grim black haze of death that pervaded Anchor Hill, this bustling border town may have some cheerier sights for them to see. After some discussion, they decide on their next steps. Get to Hammerhold, where their old allies Redd and Blue are seemingly still tracking and hunting Lifedrinkers. Grow their ranks, to withstand the overwhelming numbers and resources the Lifedrinkers have at their disposal. And last, but not least, kill an old enemy - the lifedrinker Borru, who seems to have mysteriously made enemies out of almost everyone in one way or another. One-shot: Mobile Home As the party enters session 23, they find this border town teeming with people, the streets sluggish and dense. A guard walks alongside, explaining that they can't park in town - an influx of people needing shelter have crowded out the town. Hennie spots someone squabbling with a guard - a caravaner, locked out from setting up in the market. Between a rock and a hard place, the group takes an opportunity to solve her problems. They'll set up a camp outside town, and guard it overnight. Several people stay home, to guard the caravans and take time to rest. The rest head into town - Elbjorn, Steelfist, Elmira, the caravaner Béa, and our heroes. Reggie, Hennie, and Steelfist go to a book store. Hennie buys smut. Béa and Elmira scope out the local taverns. Vesta and Elbjorn confront one of many newcomers in familiar (and suspicious) red coats. They're fellow escapees. Regrouping, the crowd filters into a tavern. Red-coated newcomers recognize part of the group, and laud them as heroes, buying them drinks. As Elbjorn and Steelfist mingle, the rest talk and drink. As the night closes out, our heroes meander hazily home for some much-needed rest. Arc 5: The Road To Hammerhold Starting first thing in the morning during Session 24, the party is penned in by an earth elemental. With prescience and expertise, Hennie identifies its strengths and weaknesses, as the fighters arm appropriately and split into units. Disorienting and swarming the creature, they quickly hack it down piece by piece. Pleased by their performance, but displeased by the caravan's inability to sell goods in the border town, Béa approaches the party with an offer - they can pay some of them, not all, and roughly half will need to be paid once some cargo is sold. The party agrees. Gathered together, they journey north through the mountains. Snow begins to cling to the peaks, and the caravan trudges through the banks a few times before the party reaches the city of Garrison. During Session 25, the party meanders about the city. While Hennie, Reginald, Corvo, and Absolution are holed up in the library researching the lifedrinkers, Vesta wanders from place to place, encountering prospective adventurers trying to join the caravan. The researchers begin to tie evidence to their conspiracy theory, tying together false identities backwards in time. Several hundred years ago, the group had a major schism, where beastfolk lifedrinkers split from humanoids - the beastfolk lifedrinkers, in turn, still active today through false identities of their own. Vesta meets seven potential companions. Bigsword, thick-skulled warrior, needs other people to sign for a courier job he wants - summarily, he joins the party for the trip from here to Councilhenge. The rest are potential new hires, and Vesta waits for a few days before passing judgement. Milton, a young ratfolk swordsman from the streets of Garrison, is ultimately not hired on basis of inexperience, especially considering the dangers ahead. Garth, an eerily stealthy and quiet adventurer, is almost hired, but ultimately denied due to Vesta's gut feeling... and he steals Hennie's wallet when he's not hired. Pappy and Bobby, a nasty grandfather and his young grandson, seek to pay their way with the caravan so the son can toughen up - they're both left behind both for fear of risk and for vague dislike. Chet Baker, a captivating but sleazy lapine, tries to insinuate himself onto the caravan but is left behind since he's blatantly obnoxious. Lastly, Johnstone, a hunter and archer, is hired on the basis of skill and utility. The party departs during Session 26, escorting some travellers and a package to Councilhenge to make some spare coin. Staying in the city for a day, the party picks up a new gig - taking a package to Pinewatch for a trade-off, then taking another package to Hammerhold. Before they leave, they decide to wander into the swamps to visit Reggie's parents on the way north. Along the journey, the party asks prodding questions about Reggie's marriage. Obliviously, he paints a picture of resentment and dissatisfaction, having left home with two-faced encouragement. Though Reggie understood her words at face value, it's clear that Mrs. Clarkswell was fed up with his religious crusade and pushed him to leave home for long periods of time, often taking weeks to respond to letters. As the party stops off in Bogfart Ranch, they turn a corner to encounter an unexpected face - Reggie's wife, leaving in an empty wagon with two others. Reggie's furniture has been left on his parents' front lawn. She spells out at last her longstanding unhappiness, but with an unexpected last straw. She explains that she's leaving him because suspicious characters have been asking around the house about Reggie. As she departs, she asks one last thing of him - to stop using her name, and to return to his own: Reggie Bogfart. Departing soon thereafter, the party spends Session 27 travelling to Pinewatch. As Hennie starts spending more time with Béa, she begins to act strangely. Vesta and Reggie note that she's been getting very secretive and anxious - while Reggie believes she's been in some sort of conflict with Béa, but a more perceptive Vesta begins to grow concerned. Reggie borrows the book Rogueish Dick and Other Tales. Meanwhile, Hennie's longstanding paranoia and secrecy begin to fester. She begins to suspect that Garth, the man who stole her wallet in Garrison, has been using it to magically track her. She sees an owl, a wolf, and a fox, which she understands to be hallucinations. Compulsively scanning her tome of arcana, she convinces herself that her masks are cursed. While scouting ahead alone, she discards her masks in the bottom of a river, in a chain-locked box. Elbjorn finds the box while he guards the rear that shift, and quietly brings it to Vesta and Reggie. After some reasonable caution, then open the box - finding Hennie's masks. Vesta uses an incantation to see if Hennie is under the influence of magic... and senses no magic at all, which worries her further still. Too overwhelmed by recent events to notice Hennie's worsening mental health, Reggie reads the same erotica his ex-wife once owned, and discovers poorly-written prose and ramshackle plot. Hennie's hallucinations intensify and grow in frequency. She says nothing to Béa, and begins to grow more and more suspicious of her allies. Blissfully unaware, Reggie shows her some smut he wrote himself. Now more confident and beginning to process his divorce, he finally notices the red flags in Hennie's behaviour. As Vesta and Reggie approach their fellow partymember out of concern for her mental health, Hennie reticently reveals the details of her harrowing experience. Though Hennie refuses to talk to Vesta and Reggie further, she does choose to speak to Trunk. Together, they bring her masks to a secluded place in the woods. Trunk offers Hennie some strategies and advice for handling her psychosis. After burying the masks, Hennie makes a promise to Trunk that she'll meet with him to help manage her symptoms. Reunited on the other side of her psychotic episode, the party recieve a letter from their old allies, Redd and Blue. Hammerhold has been compromised. After spending weeks on the road, the party departs for a new destination - a safe house near Tall Trees. Arc 6: Headhunters Our party is reunited during Session 28, spending a drunken evening in Tall Trees before heading off to hunt a new lifedrinker. They settle on a stranger, Lord Vulcan, in Last Hearth. Hammerhold is still too hot for the party to settle in, but a smaller contingent of them could watch the coronation of the next Shattershield King along the way - king and future king both confirmed lifedrinkers. Meanwhile, another party has formed to mirror our own. Led by the off-kilter and inscrutable Dreadnought, a human named Marquis, and all the partymembers they didn't hire in Garrison - Chet, Garth, Milton, Pappy, and Bobby. Searching a campsite, the group spots tracks heading into the woods. At their boss' orders, they investigate - finding a box in a shallow hole. Opening the box, they find Hennie's old masks. Having reached Hammerhold, some of our party enters the city, the rest staking out the main gates and getting ready to bolt if needed. Vesta finds a good spot to watch the parade. Reggie kills time wandering through the city. Hennie and Béa spend some quality time together. Dreadnought's search party turns over the safehouse in Tall Trees for clues. A bit of fuzz from Blue's robes catches their attention, and they asses the party's numbers and identity - to a very limited degree. Reunited, our heroes watch the coronation. As expected, the military and cultural displays are present. Snipers are in place on the rooftops, as are guards and plain-clothes spies in the crowds. The king and future kind's float are partially pulled by bodybuilders, in an unusual and vaguely horny display somewhat unbefitting a coronation. Having assessed the strength and tactics of their enemies, the party departs town. With a signal from the king to Dreadnought, the other party mobilizes. On the wrong side of the crowds, they have a few obstacles in their way. Meeting Marquis alone and by surprise, an alerted Hennie gets the party moving. They catch up to the party and get moving, leaving their pursuers in the dust. The party continues their escape in Session 29, having learned not to let their guard down. They move along the old nomad trails, and manage to thoroughly flummox their pursuers by taking a little-known mountain pass with the help of Johnstone. They arrive in Last Hearth, with some time to spare before they begin their hunt - Lord Vulcan has an announcement in a few days. The party splits. Hennie stays in town to scope out a temporary hideout in an estate with Béa, Corvo, Blue, and Absolution. Reggie goes with Elbjorn, Rollins, Tiffany, and Aedelwold to clear out a potential hideout in an innocuous village outside the city. Vesta continues north with Johnstone, Redd, Elmira, and Trunk, to assess a campsite near Vulcan's rumoured construction project. Hennie watches Lord Vulcan make his announcement - he is building a pass through the ice wall to the north, using a series of advanced archways powered by mages to make a land passage to the Far Northern Shore. His speech is enthralling, subtly sapping the crowd's life - our heroes included. Hennie infiltrates an investor's dinner, and coaxes details out of those present. It seems that Lord Vulcan doesn't really know what he's talking about, the plans are vague and secretive, and investors are ready to throw down hundreds of thousands of gold pieces already. Reggie busts into the tavern, trying to unleash the fury of the Red Star - but his powers have vanished. By steel alone, he unites Elbjorn, Rollins, and Tiffany into a front to pin down the darklings, while Aedelwold flanks them from the shadows. The farmhouse is easy work. The barn gets a little dicey, but the group manages to clear the last of the darklings. Powers of celestial magic may have left him, but Reggie departs assured that his powers of weaponry and tactics remain steadfast. Vesta and the group push through deep snow to reach their campsite. From here, they can see the construction site - now just materials and a small worker's camp. They cross the crags to get a better look - few guards, just enough for the monsters. Once night falls, they sneak closer. Pilfering the plans, Vesta discovers something shocking - these fire-gates actually might work after all. Reunited, the party shares their findings... well, Hennie and Vesta do, while Reggie rests after a standard-fare fight. They settle on house-sitting for a lesser noble (identified as not a lifedrinker) in exchange for free rent. Settling into the fancy digs, they get ready for the hunt to begin. Session 30 marks our party beginning their planning. Johnstone and Elmira are sent out, to keep track of Vulcan's whereabouts and routes. The rest of the party stays in, preparing a plan. Vulcan has released some new products, and they're taking the city by storm - while Hennie's already infiltrated an investor meeting and Vesta gets a disguise from Aedelwold, Reggie and Steelfist wander the streets, to get their hands on some new tech. Unfortunately, Vulcan's V-ring is sold out - all preorders were filled, and new backorders are wanted. After utterly failing to try and get one from some teenagers, Reggie distracts a booth worker while Steelfist stuffs a ballot box, and in a few hours, they win one. Vesta, her fur now a dark ruddy-brown, wearing a red dress and some ostentatious furs, makes her way to the investors' meeting. She assumes the identity of "Mila", a wealthy heiress enraptured by progress, while Hennie plays "Bennie", her financial advisor. They discover that Vulcan is slowly building an inner circle of admirers, his plan might actually be possible, and he's still swimming in as much money as they can give. As advertised, all investors in attendance were given flamethrowers. Nice. The evening ends with everyone meeting back at home, getting ready for their final plan. The technology uses Vulcanite, a rare mineral being shipped from the Far Northern Shore - essentially an elemental fire battery. Something here still stinks, and before they go chopping off someone's head, they intend to find out what. By Session 31, the time is ripe. Vulcan has been gathering a throng of worshippers, and he's invited Mila and Bennie to the party, alongside their retinue. In no uncertain terms, this will be their last opportunity to invest before they're shut out. With reports from Johnstone and Elmira, they have a few potential ambush sites. Instead of using the party for leverage, they decide to strike then and there. The weeks of intel and surveillance haven't been cheap - some partymembers have to stay behind and keep the manor safe, while others have to stay behind to keep the party's coffers full. The last night wears on, as the party gathers for their meeting. Eventually, a plan is set: * Hennie, Vesta, Reggie, Elbjorn, Steelfist, Trunk, Elmira, and Béa enter the party, in disguise. Blue provides magical identities, to counter any scrying. Aedelwold provides the disguises, while Tiffany plates any distinctive armour. Steelfist helps smuggle in anything illegal - weapons are traditionally welcome out of hospitality, but must remain sheathed. * Vesta is a ditzy heiress, attending with her financial advisor (Hennie) and logistics expert (Béa). Reggie is her chief guard, with Elbjorn, Steelfist, Trunk, and Elmira as fellow private guards. * Tiffany has constructed a box, designed to contain a head - disguised as a crate of copper bars. The three "investors" isolate Vulcan, with an exclusive opportunity. Taking a page out of Vulcan's book, they're selling a closed box. * Vesta and any needed lookouts find a V-ring when it goes out, and rig it to blow - detonating Vesta's wilding powder with a spoken command - "Vulcan, you're full of shit". The code word can be spoken by anyone in attendance, so that phrase should be safe. * Trunk remains away from the operation, mingling. He makes sure attention is drawn towards the detonation. Elmira leaves early, and sneaks outside. * The investors and their guards isolate Vulcan. Reggie drapes his coat over the door. Elmira whistles like a chickadee. The code word is said. Elbjorn decapitates Vulcan. The party wipes out any witnesses that couldn't be safely dismissed. His head goes in the box, which is tossed out the door to Elmira. The assassins escape through the firewalls. Trunk leaves with other guests, reuniting with Elmira and going home separately. With preparations made, things start strong. Disguises are perfect, wilding powder is concealed. They are admitted to the party. Vulcan isn't visible, so they fan out to locate all their plan's components - Vulcan, a few good ambush sites, the firewall exits, and an isolated V-ring. As Vesta tracks down Vulcan and Reggie does the same, Hennie gets the layout of the party. Two firewalls are located, and an unattended V-ring is present. However, our partymembers each see some unwelcome faces. Garth is here, cleaned up and disguised, alongside Chet. Marquis - not yet introduced by name, the adventurer who bumped into Hennie in Hammerhold during the coronation - is wandering about as well. Milton is here, on guard duty. Ready to improvise if needed, Vesta sets up the V-ring and rigs it to blow via code phrase. Vulcan makes his way into the party, speaking to investors. After miscommunicating about a meetup, Vulcan is mobbed by admirers before they can approach. Eventually reunited, they shove past others to present Vulcan with an exclusive offer. Vesta begins the sell. A unique opportunity, in this crate. Something that will revolutionize his work. Hennie bluffs, talking about heat transfer and stability, while Béa fluffs out the story for realism, before Reggie silences the group - using his military tactics knowledge to make this seem highly confidential. It's a success - Vulcan is enticed. Walking to a private meeting, they see Milton among the guards going to the meeting. Clearly recognizing them, he doesn't rat them out. Behind closed doors, Reggie drapes his coat out the window, and hears the signal - spotting Elmira moving into position. As Vulcan leans in, Vesta tells him he's full of shit, and the group springs into action. As blades are drawn, Vesta asks Milton to come with them. He thanks her, and helps them overwhelm the guards. The box is tossed out the window, and caught. The party runs towards the stairwell where their desired escape is, and has to turn a corner to avoid the guards. They're seeking Vulcan after the blast. Going down another hallway and a staircase, they elude the running guards and run for their escape - right past fleeing party guests. As they hear a guard signal to follow the party through the firewalls, Reggie throws some backup wilding salt, as Steelfist ignites it midair, and they slam the door. Deceived, the guards redirect the party guests elsewhere as the group flees through the streets. With Milton's aid, they make a quick path home, where a surprised party awaits. Most of them flee, while a skeleton crew of unaffiliated and anonymous partymembers stay in town to make good on their housesitting job. The fleeing group use Milton's inside info, choosing to trust instead of mistrust. He leads them true - though the narrowly dodge crossbow bolts, the whole gang escapes the city, with a newly severed head in their possession.